


Reactive Detachment

by CharismaticEnticer



Category: Die Anstalt
Genre: (Dub vs Sub), (Dublin vs Sublin), Alternate Universe - Human, Consensual Mind Control, Dialogue-Only, Emergent Storytelling, Fat Shaming, Hypnosis, Hypnotism, In Medias Res, Light Dom/sub, Light Existential Crisis, M/M, Present Tense at a Pinch, Trans Male Character, Unknown Perspective, Very Obliquely Implied Blowjob if you look hard enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 04:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21488671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharismaticEnticer/pseuds/CharismaticEnticer
Summary: Dub 'subtly' angles for an opportunity to switch off for a while.Human!AU. No one made me do this but myself.
Relationships: Dub/Dr Wood
Kudos: 2





	Reactive Detachment

**Author's Note:**

> Don't call this a comeback or anything - I've got far too much to do elsewhere to make a return to Die Anstalt fanfic full time. It's just... 
> 
> Well, sometimes, you’ve gotta work with one idea to suppress another. And sometimes working with that idea accidentally makes the result long enough that it justifies a full AO3 release. Go figure.
> 
> Die Anstalt © Martin Kittsteiner.

“And you don’t think you’re reading too much into this?”

“No, cus I didn’t _read_ it, did I? I _heard_ him.”

“You know–”

“He _said_ that thing.”

“You know perfectly well what I meant. I just doubt Spieler intended anything malicious by his statement.”

“Wood, he called me fat!”

“No, what he said was that your stamina might be a cause for conc–”

“Which, in English, that shit you’re speaking right now? Means I’m fat! Hell, he didn’t even ‘call’ me fat, he told the nurse I was fat while we were all, like, right there! Not exactly breaking it gently, you know?!”

“I’ve already conceded the delivery of the results was poorly timed, Dublin. That’s on the intern to make up for. My actual _concern_ here is how badly you’re taking a fairly innocent r-”

“Tch, right...”

“A _fairly innocent_ remark.”

“You can keep saying it, I’ll keep not believing it.” 

“Then I’ll say that my stamina was brought into question too, and I’m not talking about it three days after the physical concluded. Izaak’s underweight, if anything, and _his_ primary concern is still that we haven’t “had one with four feet since gen five”. One what, he won’t tell me–”

“Yeah, well, it’s easy for you, innit, Wood? You don’t gotta be thin to mean something to people. I do.”

“...I’m not sure I follow.”

“D- look at you! Look at what you’ve got going for you! A PhD on the wall, a, a bachelor’s in philosophy, not even Spieler’s got that. That hypno thing you do, if you quit today you’d make a killing with that. You speak five languages, for god’s sake, and one of them’s Korean!”

“Which I’ve applied practically precisely once. _Ohilyeo sigan nangbi,_ so to speak.”

“You learned it, though, you’ve still got that talent! But being fast’s the only talent I’ve - it’s **all** I’m good at. And if I can’t do that because I’m fat, or, or stamina or whatever it was, what’s that saying about my future?! What’s waiting for me when I get outta here? Nothing! Less than nothing! Having to lose you, lose Max - move back in with Dad and work at a fucking McDonalds!”

“You’ll wear a hole in the carpet if you keep pacing like that, you know.”

“Good!! Least that, I’ve got something to show for it!”

“Will you calm down? You’re overthinking a simple–”

“_I know I’m overthinking it!!_ I know! Everyone and the _plant’s_ told me I’m overthinking it! But I can’t stop it once it’s started, can I? I can’t NOT talk about it cus it’s all in my head and it won’t get out if I don’t and it won’t get out even then and - f- god. Wish I could just make it stop for a sec, you know?”

…

“I said, I wish I could just make it stop--”

“You’re not being at all subtle about this, are you, Dublin?”

“Depends. What d’you think I’m not being subtle about?”

“...If you want it, you can just ask. I never said you couldn’t.”

“That’s cheating, though! Don’t wanna cheat. You’ve gotta offer it or it won’t feel right.”

“It wouldn't be - fine. Fine. For formality’s sake. Would you like me to switch you off?”

“Fucking _please_. Thank you. Please. Don’t even wake me up after, I just need this thing to shut up for a–”

Snapped fingers. “Then disengage.”

“– Detaching...”

… … …

“...Done.”

“Ahh. That’s better. Now we can both get some quiet, within reason. ... Your brain _has_ ceased its chatter, hasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Excellent. Eyes open, top off. I want to look at you a while.”

“I obey.” …

“A no binder day, I take it?”

“Ribs hurt.”

“Fair enough. ...Well, you’re certainly no less handsome than last time. So you can tell yourself when you do wake up that you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

“I obey.”

“I didn’t - well. I suppose y- one could treat that as an instruction, if one likes.”

…

“What must the silence be like right now? Within your head. To hear nothing but what is necessary. For all else, all those irritating parts of the day, of your psyche, to be encased in - in... how did you describe it again?”

“Gelatin.”

“Yes, to be encased in that. Unbothersome, unobtrusive... it must be bliss. Is it bliss, Dublin?”

“Yes.”

“I’m glad for that. If only we all had such elegant solutions, eh? ...hm. If only.”

… “Permission to question?”

“Granted.”

“Can you do this to yourself?”

“Give myself permission?”

“Disengage.”

“Ah. Not for lack of trying, believe me. But having studied the art of it for so long, I’ve built up something of an - immunity, you could say, to it. Knowing the mechanisms of the ball and–”

“Then how do you switch off?”

“I. Why do you want to know this suddenly, anyway?”

“You seemed wistful. You said if only. The brain... noticed you were tired. Your days are long, too, and your head’s loud. I am loud. And there must be a time where you–”

“On your knees.”

“–I obey - where you need this too. But if you can’t switch off... where’s _your_ bliss?”

“Oh, Dublin. I still have my ways of getting bliss, or something like it. Just not by switching off.”

“So how?”

“What were we talking about before? I wonder if you even remember.”

“I do. About... talents. About how you can do so much and I can do so little. What does this–mhmmph–? _nn..._”

“You see? That’s something else you can do. You can give old, tired men like me a way to take back control, even a little bit. You say you need to mean something to people? Having you like this... or in any state, really. That means the world to _me_. _You_ mean that to me.”

…

“Pardon - I was... What I say in here doesn’t leave this room, does it?”

“It does not.”

“Good... good. Now open wide like I taught you, and - and let’s both of us shut out the world for a while, shall we?”

“I obey.”


End file.
